Joe Romanow, a World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, called to wonder why I didn't write a column about Wednesday's 63rd anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. Romanow said he saw few references anywhere to the invasion, in the media. "I just felt a little sad for everyone I knew over there," he said, "and I just wanted you to know."

His point is well taken. I explained to Joe that I still try to write as often as I can about our white-haired veterans - whether it's a column on the Watchfire, or a column on some local vets involved in returning Japanese battle artifacts from Iwo Jima, or a column on the civic celebration in Syracuse at the end of World War II. But the problem is that every anniversary involving loss demands to be remembered, whether it's Iwo, or Pearl, or the Bulge, or D-Day, or the Tet offensive in Vietnam ... and I can't write a column every year about every one.